Looking out for the well-being of the flood victims

HOPE was revived for the flood victims housed in the Nazareth Community Hall in Pinetown as they were visited by UNICEF South Africa, the Impande Organisation, along with the Department of Social Development in KwaZulu-Natal.

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The trio has embarked on a flood-relief initiative aimed at 600 families with over 1 000 children aged from zero to nine. During the visit on Friday, September, 9, they met with parents and caregivers to hand out recreational materials and toys.

According to UNICEF, through this partnership, toys and other recreational materials are being distributed to children to encourage learning through play and provide mental and emotional support following the trauma of the floods in April.
“Many of the children housed in community halls have had schooling interrupted or completely halted for various reasons, and their families were left with very little or nothing after the disaster,” they said.

Speaking to the Highway Mail, Brain Ligette of Impande said they were approached by UNICEF to help them in identifying the families in need.
“We were more than happy to jump on board as an organisation that works with children, and we committed to this initiative. It took a lot of preparation time, so we had to engage government stakeholders where we had to ascertain how many children there are in the different community halls and the age groups of the children. This was to work out if we will be able to reach the target,” he said.

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Ligette said they are in the first few weeks of distribution, and they are set to have more with time.
“We are giving the toys to the caregivers and demonstrating to them how they can use these toys when playing with their children. We also have books that read stories of storms, with the aim to increase the interaction between the caregivers and children so they can open up about the floods. The key toys we have are building blocks so that kids can be inspired in building their future house. Fun is also a big element of the initiative as there are no books, toys or safe play areas in most of the areas where the displaced are being housed,” he said.

This visit comes a few weeks after the MEC of Social Development, Nonhlanhla Khoza, visited the Mariannridge Community Hall where she also handed toys to the children temporarily housed there.
The organisation said around 150 families have been reached in recent weeks, with 450 more targeted over the next month.